{"id":241,"date":"2018-12-19T05:38:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T05:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leadingedgemedicalaz.com\/?p=241"},"modified":"2020-01-18T10:01:11","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T10:01:11","slug":"understanding-the-difference-between-acute-and-chronic-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadingedgemedicalaz.com\/?p=241","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Difference Between Acute and Chronic Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>According to the CDC<\/strong>, chronic pain prevalence ranges between\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/67\/wr\/mm6736a2.htm\">11% and 40% of the US population<\/a>. They explain this use of a range by the fact that the rates vary so much depending on your sub-group. <strong>Factors like your job<\/strong>, pastimes, past injuries, age, and general health can each make you more or less prone to developing chronic pain. Whether you work in a mine, swinging a <strong>pickaxe<\/strong> or you swing a <strong>racquet<\/strong>\u00a0while playing tennis, you&#8217;re in a higher risk group.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons that people seek medical help<\/strong>, outranking diabetes and\u00a0heart disease combined,\u00a0and it&#8217;s also well-known that the prevalence of chronic pain in the US has contributed to increased rates of anxiety and depression as well as dependence on potentially addictive\u00a0<strong>opioid<\/strong> prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Many people with chronic pain believe that medications are the only answer, but when you better understand the difference between acute and chronic pain, it becomes clearer that you do have options. Let&#8217;s take a look!<\/p>\n<h3>What is acute pain?<\/h3>\n<p>Acute pain is that intense pain that you feel when you injure a part of your body. When it occurs, you may have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Broken a bone<\/li>\n<li>Torn your rotator cuff (shoulder)<\/li>\n<li>Lost a filling to expose the nerve in a tooth<\/li>\n<li>Burned yourself<\/li>\n<li>Gone into labor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once the condition is treated, stopped, or healed on its own, the pain generally stops.\u00a0<strong>If you experience severe\u00a0acute pain<\/strong>, you usually need immediate medical attention. In some cases, failing to get medical attention for acute pain can lead to improper healing, which is one of several causes of chronic pain.<\/p>\n<h3>What is chronic pain?<\/h3>\n<p>Chronic pain is residual pain that continues even after the cause of the pain has <strong>&#8220;been fixed.&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0It may last six months, a year, or a lifetime. Even though the cause of the pain is, in most cases, gone, the nerves continue to send pain signals.\u00a0<strong>The continued cries for help from the area may even cause the immune system to mount a response for a non-existent injury<\/strong>, leading to inflammation, which only makes matters worse and can cause more permanent damage.<\/p>\n<p>Chronic pain plays a huge role in a person&#8217;s life as it can influence social interactions, desire to eat, ability to sleep, and willingness to\u00a0move for fear of causing more pain. Because of this, people with chronic pain often also suffer from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anxiety<\/li>\n<li>Depression<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue<\/li>\n<li>Insomnia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Because there may be\u00a0no underlying cause, treating chronic pain isn&#8217;t generally\u00a0about <strong>&#8220;fixing a specific\u00a0problem.&#8221;<\/strong> But the difference isn&#8217;t always that cut and dry, and it actually does patients a disservice to suggest that all chronic pain has no underlying cause when there may very well be a treatable cause for your chronic pain like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nerve irritation and inflammation<\/li>\n<li>Misalignments\u00a0in the spine<\/li>\n<li>Scar tissue<\/li>\n<li>Lack of physical activity, which is normally a vicious cycle as you don&#8217;t want to exercise because of pain and pain gets worse because you don&#8217;t exercise<\/li>\n<li>Lack of blood\u00a0flow, which is necessary for an area to heal properly<\/li>\n<li>Autoimmune disorders<\/li>\n<li>Migraine<\/li>\n<li>Fibromyalgia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Often treating these underlying causes can reduce or eliminate pain sometimes\u00a0in conjunction with medication and sometimes without.<\/p>\n<h3>How Dr. Johnson treats chronic pain<\/h3>\n<p>Dr. Johnson\u00a0applies several techniques to reduce chronic pain, including, but not limited to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spinal manipulation, which realigns misaligned vertebrae\u00a0and discs to optimize functionality<\/li>\n<li>DyAnsys\u00ae percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, which soothes inflamed nerves<\/li>\n<li>Trigger point injections, which can reduce pain temporarily to increase the ability to move. More movement can improve the health of the joints, muscles, and tendons\u00a0over time.<\/li>\n<li>Graston Technique\u00ae, which is a type of massage that uses tools to break down painful scar tissue and promote more proper healing.<\/li>\n<li>Medications, which could include anti-depressants, anti-seizure\u00a0medications, muscle relaxants, etc., depending on the type of chronic pain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By treating the underlying cause, they can help patients who are living with chronic pain get their lives back.\u00a0<strong>Dr. Johnson<\/strong> and <strong>Tammy Jones<\/strong>, FNP at Leading Edge Medical also encourage healthy lifestyle changes like Tai Chi, yoga, diet, and stress management, treating the whole patient and not just a disease.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to live with chronic pain and addictive opioid\u00a0drugs are not the only answer. Contact the practice today to schedule an appointment and explore your options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the CDC, chronic pain prevalence ranges between\u00a011% and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Understanding the Difference Between Acute and Chronic Pain - Leading Edge Medical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadingedgemedicalaz.com\/?p=241\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding the Difference Between Acute and Chronic Pain - 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